Edge of Tomorrow: Will this be any different than other Tom Cruise sci-fi films?

Tiffany Antone is a playwright and instructor, who also finds time to produce and direct new and innovative works. Her plays have been read/produced in NY, LA, DC and AZ, and she is the creative mind behind Little Black Dress INK — a fem...

Cruise saves the world, one sci-fi film at a time

Tom Cruise dies again and again in a bid to save humankind from warring space invaders in this Groundhog Day-esque feature coming to theaters everywhere June 6.

Tom Cruise really wants to save the planet from aliens. He flew a bomb into the mother ship in Oblivion, went through hell and high water to get his kids to safety in War of the Worlds, and now he's trapped in a high-tech fighting suit, forced to do battle with tentacled space invaders over and over again in Edge of Tomorrow.

But is this Tom Cruise character really so different from all the others?

Cruise plays Lt. Col. Bill Cage, an untried officer who's never seen combat. Things must be going pretty poorly for the humans, because Cage gets dropped into battle even though there's no chance the untrained man will survive. He dies within minutes of landing, but wakes up moments later to find himself starting the day all over again.

Kind of like a video game.

Stuck in a time loop, Cage meets up with fellow soldier and combat rock star, Rita Vrataski (played by Emily Blunt), who takes on the tedious task of training him. From the trailer, it looks like Cage begins to care for her and his fight becomes about saving Rita along with the world… but we're just hypothesizing on that front.

Although we admit the action-packed trailer has us eager to see the movie, we couldn't help but notice some similarities between Edge of Tomorrow and Cruise's other sci-fi forays. Is Cruise just reviving the same character over and over again?

Plagued by visions of a beautiful woman

Cruise meets soldier Rita Vrataski on the battlefield. She's the only person who seems to understand what is happening to him, and she tells him to find her when he wakes up. The pair is engulfed by flames and Cruise's character opens his eyes to see a giant billboard of Rita looming over him.

Where we've seen it before

Cruise plays an ex-astronaut haunted by visions of a mysterious and beautiful woman who turns out to be his long-lost astronaut wife in cloning sci-fi flick, Oblivion.

In Vanilla Sky, Cruise is beset with contradicting versions of Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz, as he searches for the truth behind his fractured mental state.

Trapped with a bunch of other miserable humans on a one-way street to dead-ville

Is there anything worse than heading into a no-win situation with a bunch of strangers? Ask Tom Cruise.

Where we've seen it before

Cruise gets sucked up into a holding tank aboard a giant alien bent on destruction in War of the Worlds and finds a team of frightened citizens already there. The group huddles in quiet panic as the aliens remove them one by one to use as fertilizer for their takeover.

All in all, we've got to hand it to Cruise, who shows the same intensity in this new trailer as he brings to all of his roles. Will Edge of Tomorrow show a new side to Tom Cruise? And with all those awesome special effects and breathtaking battle scenes, do we care if it doesn't?